Red monti cap fading

[yan2pr]

Hello all, like the title says, my red monti cap is slowly fading. Parameters have been stable (i will post them below) the only change i have made to the tank is that i started running gfo and i have read mix opinions on the gfo affecting the corals. What do you guys think, could this be the issue? I have had this coral for 3 months in this tank and it has never had any issues and it has been growing great ( in my opinion).

Nitrate- between 3 and 5 cant tell for sure
Phos-0.04 (got up to 0.21 a month ago, thats why i started GFO) after that its been between 0.07 and 0.04.
Alk- 8.2
Cal-430
Mag-1320
1.026

Ill try to get a good picture, it doesnt look to crazy but i dont want to wait for it to get worse.

 

[Johny Cash]

Your water parameters looks great ideal for any SPS coral, I do know one thing that sps corals are unforgiving when it comes to unstable parameters especially ALK-,

My suggestion keep a close eye on your Alk, dont let it jump low or high keep it tight for stability.

Take out GFO since fading started after adding GFO

Just maintain the Phosphates Via WC until you see a difference in positive coloration.

I am only suggesting this based on nothing else have been changed, flow, light tinkering(SPS like a lot of light), placement of the sps, and no new addition of a neighbor such as new sps or Lps coral.

Also another note, Ideally random flow with gyre movement of the water is ideal because it will help your SPS with both absorption and excretion of nutrients as well as keep detritus from settling.

Good luck!!

 

[Sallstrom]

I agree on the change in nutrients. Montipora can react to low phosphate by getting pale, so you might try just to remove or lower the dose of GFO.
The hobby tests are not always that correct when it comes to phosphate, so it's a good thing to also learn to see on the corals when the nutrients gets too low.

 

[Johny Cash]

In a hobby this expensive SMH, i highly advice to get a Hana Phosphate ULR test kit. Any other phosphate kits IMO are useless.

 

[blasterman]

As above, caps like nutrients and can be fussy if phosphate gets too low. Red/orange seem the most sensitive.

I've found flower petal caps the most tolerant of nutrient conditions.

Digipora will bleach under similar conditions. However, unlike caps they might pale but will keep growing and will adjust quicker.

 

[yan2pr]

I will turn the GFO reactor off to see if that helps with the coloration, forgot to mention there havent been any changes in lighting or flow and i use the hanna checker to monitor the phosphate. Thanks everyone for the help

 

[Johny Cash]

keep us updated would like to know what happens.

 

[HOLYREEFER]

i also added GFO to my tank but i only added 1/2 cup to my 210gallon and it was more than enough. I started to get hair algae and decided to add another cup and noticed the SPS were losing color. Its been about a week 1/2 or so and the color is starting to come back. I went and got a cheato reactor.

 

[Uncle99]

I am not sure while so many are running GFO in an effort to run the lowest possible N and P.
I worked for months to reduce a .2 phosphate to the 0.03-0.07 range and this is when trouble started.
Remove GFO 8 months ago now and while I get readings of .15-.20, all corals are back to happy.
I have found that trying to achieve someone else’s view of levels, is not always the best, the tank and it’s corals speak louder.

I ask you this question, if you did not add any GFO, where would your phosphate level be.?

 

[Hemmdog]

Check potassium.

 

[yan2pr]

I am not sure while so many are running GFO in an effort to run the lowest possible N and P.
I worked for months to reduce a .2 phosphate to the 0.03-0.07 range and this is when trouble started.
Remove GFO 8 months ago now and while I get readings of .15-.20, all corals are back to happy.
I have found that trying to achieve someone else’s view of levels, is not always the best, the tank and it’s corals speak louder.

I ask you this question, if you did not add any GFO, where would your phosphate level be.?

I started reading on that and i took my gfo offline, im running chaeto. Ill see what the phosphates does and ill stop chasing numbers. I have seen many tanks with higher phosphates and are amazing. Hopefully the monti gets his color back.